Computacenter gets off to a good start

Computacenter's share holders must have been hoping that the solid results it delivered for 2018 would continue into this year and based on a Q1 trading update those hopes were not unfounded.

The channel player has indicated that the first three months of the year have been good ones with the firm describing the trading as "pleasing" across the Group.

"At the Group level, both revenue and profitability are ahead of our 2018 Q1 performance on a like for like basis before the positive impact of acquisitions. This is above our original expectation as the first half of the year presents us with a challenging comparison," stated the update.

The UK managed to deliver revenue growth even though the comparisons in Q1 were being made against a period last year that saw the firm land a significant one-off software licence deal.

Although the firm had warned that one of its largest customers in Germany was slowing its cloud infrastructure demand that was offset by growth with other accounts France was also positive in the quarter and the US operation also saw growth. The firm is continuing to integrate FusionStorm, the American-based professional services business it acquired back in October.

For those worried that factors like Brexit could be used by customers as an excuse to delay projects and coll down IT spending the message from Computacenter will be encouraging: "Slightly more challenging economic conditions throughout our major markets do not seem to be deterring our customers from investing in technology as they seek to enhance the competitiveness of their businesses."

With a decent Q1 under the belt the firm has indicated to share holders that it is expecting the fiscal year to come in line with expectations.